Radiotelephone service planning methods and systems are known which are used by system planners to determine which unit of a group of other communication units, such as a cellular base station, is the best server to provide a communication connection for another communication unit, such as a mobile unit. Known radiotelephone service planning systems and methods provide server images which typically aim to provide a color map view of the fixed communication unit which is most likely to best serve a mobile unit in a specific location. Generally, conventional radiotelephone service planning systems and methods generate the best server images based primarily on estimated or measured pathloss at specific locations. The pathloss is typically defined for a series of locations across a geographical area. For example, the system is typically divided up into Cartesian squares or tiles of X meters by Y meters and signal strength levels are used without consideration of interference factors. The resulting color images represent antenna footprints so that a system planner can visually determine coverage area for a given fixed communication unit. It has been found however that such systems do not provide accurate coverage models for many radiotelephone systems, particularly where buildings, high traffic densities, large elevational changes, and other factors are present in a given radiotelephone communication system. Because conventional systems rely primarily on pathloss determinations, the interference and degradations caused by other communication units and physical obstructions and elevational variations can cause a fixed communication unit to effectively be an improper best server because of these other factors. Consequently, conventional best server detection systems will designate a best server when in fact communication can be lost with that server in normal operating conditions. These factors can lead to poor system planning and costly reconfigurations of multimillion dollar systems.
In addition, traditional radiotelephone service planning systems and methods do not typically allow for variably setting signaling thresholds on a per fixed communication unit basis to allow flexibility in planning the system to overcome perceived lower communication quality links within the system. In addition, typical radiotelephone system planning systems do not also take into account the rate of movement of a mobile communication unit within a fixed communication unit communication area. Hence, if a mobile communication unit is traveling at a faster rate to or from a fixed communication unit, another fixed communication unit may be a best server during such conditions. Hence after a system is planned with conventional planning tools, mobile communication units can be improperly dropped from the system because such considerations were not accounted for during the planning process.
Accordingly, there exists a need for an improved radiotelephone service planning system and method that more accurately determines a best server for a communication connection for a plurality of other communication units. Such a system should provide a visual image or other indication to a user that more adequately illustrates the most probable actual coverage and best server for a given system. It would be advantageous to take into account other system related factors that can affect a determination of a best server.